Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 69, NWS Columbia, SC
NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 7, 1998, 7:29 PM EDT for McCormick County, South Carolina. It was in force for 61 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- May 7, 1998, 7:29 PM EDT (23:29 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 1998, 8:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 61 min
- Issued by
- NWS Columbia, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County McCormick County, SC
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:31 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 8:03 PM EDT | Tornado F0 | Clarks Hill, SC | An F0 tornado took down trees at Clarks Hill Recreation Area. |
| May 7, 8:10 PM EDT | Hail 0.88 | Clarks Hill, SC | SKYWARN spotter reported nickel size hail. |
NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 5:00 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 211 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 650 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -129 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 521 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 193 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 5 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -3.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
426 WUUS1 KCAE 072330 RRA SVRCAE SCC065-080030- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 729 PM EDT THU MAY 7 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN MCCORMICK COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 830 PM EDT * WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER CENTRAL LINCOLN COUNTY NEAR THE TOWN OF LINCOLNTON. THIS STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS CLARKS HILL LAKE BY 750 PM. THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... PLUM BRANCH AT 800 PM MODOC AT 800 PM PARKSVILLE AT 800 PM SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS. LVCC
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 7, 3:15 PM EDT, 4 hours 14 minutes before
SCZ015-016-018-020-021-022-025-026-027-028-029-030-031- 035-036-037-038-041-GAZ040-063-064-065-077-072011- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 315 PM EDT THU MAY 7 1998 THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS DIMINISHED IN PART OF THE WATCH AREA. THE WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE COLUMBIA COUNTY WARNING AREA: AIKEN BAMBERG BARNWELL BURKE CALHOUN CHESTERFIELD CLARENDON COLUMBIA EDGEFIELD FAIRFIELD KERSHAW LANCASTER LEE LEXINGTON LINCOLN MCCORMICK MCDUFFIE NEWBERRY ORANGEBURG RICHLAND RICHMOND SALUDA SUMTER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO CROSS THE EASTERN MIDLANDS THROUGH 5 PM...BUT NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. LM
Special weather statement, May 7, 3:42 PM EDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before
SCZ015-016-018-020-021-022-025-026-027-028-029-030-031-035- 036-037-038-041-GAZ040-063-064-065-077-080000- THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 342 PM EDT THU MAY 7 1998 THE OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA: AIKEN BAMBERG BARNWELL CALHOUN CHESTERFIELD CLARENDON EDGEFIELD FAIRFIELD KERSHAW LANCASTER LEE LEXINGTON MCCORMICK NEWBERRY ORANGEBURG RICHLAND SALUDA SUMTER THE OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN GEORGIA: BURKE COLUMBIA LINCOLN MCDUFFIE RICHMOND AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHING THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHERN GEORGIA LATE THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY A STRONG UPPER LEVEL FLOW. IN THE LOWER LEVELS, THE AIRMASS IS ALREADY UNSTABLE AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING FRONT. THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING WEST OF THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA OF GEORGIA THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. THE SEVERE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAIN...DAMAGING HAIL TO 2 INCHES AND WIND GUST TO 60 MPH. A FEW TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE WITH THE MOST INTENSE STORMS. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS OFFICIALS ARE REQUESTED TO REMAIN ALERT AND MAKE PRELIMINARY PLANS TO DEAL WITH SEVERE WEATHER SHOULD IT OCCUR. SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS...INCLUDING AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS... SHOULD MONITOR THIS WEATHER SITUATION AND RELAY REPORTS PROMPTLY TO THE NEAREST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. LM
Local storm report, May 7, 6:35 PM EDT, 54 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
635 PM EDT THU MAY 07 1998
TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST ...EVENT/REMARKS...
.....COUNTY LOCATION.....
634 PM MCCORMICK SC 1.75 INCH HAIL
05/07/98 MCCORMICK PUBLIC REPORTS QUARTER TO
GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL
TTHLocal storm report, May 7, 7:16 PM EDT, 13 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
716 PM EDT THU MAY 07 1998
TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST ...EVENT/REMARKS...
.....COUNTY LOCATION.....
714 PM LINCOLNTON GA .88 INCH HAIL
05/07/98 LINCOLN PUBLIC REPORTS NICKEL
SIZED HAIL
TTHLocal storm report, May 7, 7:24 PM EDT, 5 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
724 PM EDT THU MAY 07 1998
TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST ...EVENT/REMARKS...
.....COUNTY LOCATION.....
724 PM LINCOLNTON GA 1.75 INCH HAIL
05/07/98 LINCOLN PUBLIC REPORTS GOLF BALL
SIZED HAIL
TTHLocal storm report, May 7, 7:26 PM EDT, 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
726 PM EDT THU MAY 07 1998
TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST ...EVENT/REMARKS...
.....COUNTY LOCATION.....
720 PM 25NW EDGEFIELD SC TORNADO
05/07/98 EDGEFIELD SPOTTER AND FIRE DEPT
REPORTS TORNADO ON THE
GROUND NEAR HIGHWAY 283 25
MILES NORTH OF TOWN OF
EDGEFIELD
TTHThe office that day
Everything else NWS Columbia, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 6:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | McCormick | 61 min |
| May 7, 6:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Edgefield | 61 min |
| May 7, 6:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Saluda | 62 min |
| May 7, 7:10 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Edgefield | 35 min |
| May 7, 7:46 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Edgefield, Saluda | 29 min |
| May 7, 7:57 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | McCormick | 33 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.